Somali pirates drown as they flee with ransom

[Spencer Collins]

Somali pirates drown as they flee with ransom

Jon Swain

SIX Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of the ransom when their boat capsized as it left the vessel, their leader said yesterday.

Four others were missing with their share of the $3m payoff, which been parachuted on to the tanker on Friday, Mohamed Said said by phone from the port of Harardhere.

“The small boat that was carrying those killed and eight who survived was overloaded . . . they were afraid of a chase from outsiders [foreign navies of the combined maritime forces],” he said.

Mohamud Aden, a resident of the port off which the tanker had been anchored watched by the warships, said: “The capsize was an accident. The pirates were full of joy and partially frightened by the presence of foreign war machines and were speeding. That was a tragedy for the pirates.”

In all, several dozen raiders had held the ship and its 25-member crew, including two Britons, to ransom. They were well-armed and disciplined but as soon as they got the ransom a shootout nearly broke out, it was reported.

The 1,080ft Sirius Star, owned by Aramco, is the largest vessel hijacked by the Somali pirates. It was seized in November in the Indian Ocean, well outside the raiders’ usual operating area.

The tanker was carrying 2m barrels of oil, more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s daily output and worth an estimated $100m. Its capture was seen as a dramatic demonstration of the pirates’ ability to strike hundreds of miles offshore.

The tanker’s crew included second officer Jim Grady, from Renfrewshire, and chief engineer Peter French, from Co Durham. Yesterday they were looking forward to coming home, though latest reports said the ship was still anchored off Harardhere.

More than 100 ships were attacked off the Horn of Africa last year and maritime officials said the problem was out of control. The pirates were said to have raked in $120m and still hold some 14 merchant ships and 300 crew.

The Sirius Star’s release came as the US Fifth Fleet announced that a taskforce targeting piracy would be launching later this month.

Nato and the European Union have warships in the Gulf and the Chinese navy has said it will assist.

Somali pirates drown as they flee with ransom - Times Online

Arrrrrrrr...those scurvy dogs now sleep in the deep...

[cnredd]

End result good, but the fact that they actually got the ransom is disturbing...

[waltky]

Argh, pirates!...

Pirates Demand Ransom for Oil Tanker Hijacked off Coast of Somalia
Thursday 16th March, 2017 - Pirates off the coast of Somalia, who hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel, the EU Naval Force said.

The pirates seized the Comoros-flagged Aris 13 tanker on Monday, the first such hijacking in the region since 2012, and took it to the port of Alula in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. “The EU Naval Force … has received positive confirmation from the master of … Aris 13, that his ship and crew are currently being held captive by a number of suspected armed pirates in an anchorage off the north coast of Puntland, close to Alula,” the force said in a statement late on Tuesday.

EU Navfor said as soon as it received an alert on the ship’s seizure, it sent patrol aircraft from its Djibouti base to try to make radio contact and late on Tuesday its headquarters in London managed to contact the vessel’s master by phone. “The master confirmed that armed men were on board his ship and they were demanding a ransom for the ship’s release. The EU Naval Force has now passed the information regarding the incident to the ship’s owners,” EU Navfor said. It gave no details on the size of the ransom.

The 1,800 deadweight tonne tanker is owned by Armi Shipping, a company registered in Panama, and managed by Aurora Ship Management in the United Arab Emirates, according to the French transport ministry’s Equasis shipping data website. Experts said ship owners were becoming lax after a long period of calm, and that the vessel was an easy target because it was low, slow and close to the coast. Aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy said in a statement late on Tuesday the ship was carrying gas and fuel and was not registered with the Maritime Security Center for the Horn of Africa, which registers and tracks vessels in the region.

The group said the Aris 13 was preparing to go through a route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island which vessels often use, regardless of the piracy risks, to save time and cost. “This attack reinforces the need for vessels to follow shipping industry Best Management Practices (BMP) within the BMP specified High Risk Area,” Oceans Beyond Piracy said. There was no immediate comment from the ship’s owners and managers.

In their prime in 2011, Somali pirates launched 237 attacks off Somalia’s coast, data from the International Maritime Bureau showed, and held hundreds of hostages. That year, Oceans Beyond Piracy estimated the global cost of piracy at about $7 billion. The shipping industry bore roughly 80 percent of those costs, the group’s analysis shows. However, attacks fell off sharply after ship owners tightened security and vessels stayed further away from the Somali coast.

Pirates Demand Ransom for Oil Tanker Hijacked off Coast of Somalia

[saltwn]

Originally Posted by waltky

Argh, pirates!...

Pirates Demand Ransom for Oil Tanker Hijacked off Coast of Somalia
Thursday 16th March, 2017 - Pirates off the coast of Somalia, who hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel, the EU Naval Force said.

be easier to do renewables
why waste two hundred years and several countries worth of taxes to fight these guys when you are only enriching one type of dinosaur business.

[300 H and H]

Originally Posted by saltwn

be easier to do renewables
why waste two hundred years and several countries worth of taxes to fight these guys when you are only enriching one type of dinosaur business.

Not really. Renewables are fine, but will never totally replace Earth oil. Oil btw has nothing to do with dinosaurs or ancient plant life. Nothing, nada....

Oil is created in between the crust of the Earth and the Mantel. It is continuously produced by the heat and pressures found there. It may be in fact the stuff that allows plate tectonics and continental drift... And it is in fact a renewable, as it is being made continuously.

University of Sweden at Stockholm did the research that found no organic matter is required in the production of crud oil. This also explains quite nicely with why we find oil at such great depths. No one could ever explain how organic matter would get 5 miles below the surface. And why we have over 200 years worth of proven reserves already located..

Crazy left wingers are teaching our kids the lie to this day about dinosaurs and oil.

Regards, Kirk

[mlurp]

I sure hope this situation comes around again.. And not just for these pirates of Somali but all of these terror causing freaks.


Hey it couldn't happen to a better group of pirates.... R.I.P. in hell....

[mlurp]

Originally Posted by 300 H and H

Not really. Renewables are fine, but will never totally replace Earth oil. Oil btw has nothing to do with dinosaurs or ancient plant life. Nothing, nada....

Oil is created in between the crust of the Earth and the Mantel. It is continuously produced by the heat and pressures found there. It may be in fact the stuff that allows plate tectonics and continental drift... And it is in fact a renewable, as it is being made continuously.

University of Sweden at Stockholm did the research that found no organic matter is required in the production of crud oil. This also explains quite nicely with why we find oil at such great depths. No one could ever explain how organic matter would get 5 miles below the surface. And why we have over 200 years worth of proven reserves already located..

Crazy left wingers are teaching our kids the lie to this day about dinosaurs and oil.

Regards, Kirk

Did I understand the embolden correctly, I wonder?

Hi Kirk. might I ask you this...

Could you provide a link to prove the statement in bold print, please. As this is the first I believe most everyone has heard that we have so much oil and it is ever being renewed!

I mean people in the know write about our lost of everything we gained in today's world if we don't start using this substance a bit wiser.

What is underlined just needs a person to think, 1, when this period was on the surface of our planet and the period it began to be covered over by nature.
2, Lastly the period it took to over cover what was once the surface which is now close to 5 miles under new surfaces.

Crazy left wingers are teaching our kids the lie to this day about dinosaurs and oil.

At least this is how I see it... I might be wrong and can learn if so..

[MrLiberty]

Originally Posted by mlurp

Did I understand the embolden correctly, I wonder?

Hi Kirk. might I ask you this...

Could you provide a link to prove the statement in bold print, please. As this is the first I believe most everyone has heard that we have so much oil and it is ever being renewed!

I mean people in the know write about our lost of everything we gained in today's world if we don't start using this substance a bit wiser.

What is underlined just needs a person to think, 1, when this period was on the surface of our planet and the period it began to be covered over by nature.
2, Lastly the period it took to over cover what was once the surface which is now close to 5 miles under new surfaces.

Crazy left wingers are teaching our kids the lie to this day about dinosaurs and oil.

At least this is how I see it... I might be wrong and can learn if so..

Here's a link to the theory that crude oil is NOT organic.....BTW it was a Russian theory. Them damn russkies.

Of course the left wing partisan media will never tell the truth about crude oil, they just repeat the lie that it came from dead dinosaurs.

World Messenger: Crude Oil - organic or non-organic?

OH, as to the OP, I'm glad the pirates got what they truly deserve. To bad the money went down with them.

[FrancSevin]

Originally Posted by saltwn

be easier to do renewables
why waste two hundred years and several countries worth of taxes to fight these guys when you are only enriching one type of dinosaur business.

Renewables? Really? How would that stop the pirates from just raiding other ships passing by?

They have historically stopped container ships, cruise ships and kidnapped small craft world travelers, demanding ransom. Not just oil tankers.

This is what President Jefferson decided to stop over 200 years ago. The marines aboard our vessel killed 'em all. It worked.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War

So, I must ask outside of your boiler plate political sound bite answer,,;
Why are we still dealing humanely with this "industry" now?

[mlurp]

Originally Posted by MrLiberty

Here's a link to the theory that crude oil is NOT organic.....BTW it was a Russian theory. Them damn russkies.

Of course the left wing partisan media will never tell the truth about crude oil, they just repeat the lie that it came from dead dinosaurs.

World Messenger: Crude Oil - organic or non-organic?

OH, as to the OP, I'm glad the pirates got what they truly deserve. To bad the money went down with them.

i saved this knowing I would get a chance to use it... From the Sunday newspaper: Ask Marilyn vos Savant

She disputes the dino's were involved in this oil making period..

She says the living organisms that lived long before the dino's roamed the earth are what produced oil. The planet was warmer, swamps and bogs covered the land and the seas were filled with one cell organisms. This matter was buried as the oceans and rivers dried up. And over eons this material was cooked by pressure into oil and natural gases.